p^s^ 





SPEECH 



OF 



HON. AARON H. CRAGIN, 



OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 



ON 



THE KANSAS QUESTION; 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MAY 24, 1858. 



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{^"■'V/.SHlV^^^lS- 



WASHINGTON: 
PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1858. 



SPEECH. 



'I'lie llouje being in tlie Coinmitice of the Whole on the 
••liae of the Union — 

Mr. CR AGIN said: 

Mr. Chairman-: Having failed to put the Le- 
lompton fraud and swindle through this House 
naked, and thereby fasten slavery upon the State 
of Kansas against the known and expressed will 
of her people, the godfathers of the monster have 
'oncluded to clothe it in garments of gold, and 
sond it back to the people, and if possible, bribe 
them to adopt it as their legitimate child. It is 
to be taken to the Territory of Kansas with a 
bribe in one hand and a scourge in the other. It 
is hoped that its residence, in the pure, polite, and 
ri'fined society of Washington for the past few 
months, has so improved it, as to induce the peo- 
ple of Kansas to forget its base origin, and to re- 
ceive it as the virgin offspring of popular sover- 
eignty. But if they will not accept the bribe as 
the price of its adoption, apostatize from their 
f!\ith, and bow down and worship the Moloch of 
slavery, they are to be punished, and doomed to 
nmain a Territory for an indefinite period of 
time. 

The bill which has passed Congress, and re- 
ceived the approval of the President, speaks to the 
people of Kansas in the following language: "Itis 
the desire of the present Democratic Administra- 
tion that you come into the Unipn at this time, 
provided you will come icith the Lecomplon constitu- 
tion. We know that you loathe and abhor that 
instrument. We know that you have protested 
against it in the most earnest and solemn manner. 
You claim, and we admit, that it is the workman- 
ship of a minority, and that it is spotted all over 
with fraud. But feeling that it is the only chance 
to make Kansas a slave State, we have used every 
means in our power to force it upon you. In this 
we have failed. We are still anxious that you 
should take it; and as an inducement, wc offer 

f'ou admission and public lands worth §5,000,000. 
lUt if you refuse this bribe, and will not become 
a slave State, you shall be deemed unfit for admis- 
.sion,and must remain out of the Union until you 
liavo a population nearly double that which you 



now have, and lose the benefit of the public land , 
much of which we have already advertised for 
sale." In other words, "We admit that your 
present population is sufficient for a slave State; 
out it will require forty or fifty thousand more in- 
habitants before you can even apply for admission 
as a free State." 

I will state the proposition contained in this 
law, in the language of Colonel John W. Forney, 
the gallant defender of the rights of the people. 
In the Press of April 24, he says: 

" By a careful analysis of the report, it will be seen thai 
the present proposition tenders a distinct bribe of large land 
grants, as an iniliiL'('nient to the [)eoplc of Kansas to aocepi 
a form of government which they utterly loathe and abhor. 
It says, in so many words, to the peopli> of Kansas : You 
must accept this hribe, coupled with the bill of ahomination \ 
which you have a«ain and again coiidemnea. if you wish to 
come into the Union without delay; or. if you are perverte 
enough to svurn the brilic, you shall he dveyned guilty of con- 
tumacy, and shall remain out of the i'nTon until it shall legally 
appear that you have a population larsc enough to entitle 
you to elect a Representative on the ratio of representatiou 
established by Congress." 

1 can think of but one transaction in sacred or 
profane history with which to compare this. The 
Bible records it as follows: 

" The Devil takctli liiiu up into an exceeding high mount - 
ain, and shcwoih him all the kingdoms of the world, and 
the glory of them : 

"And saith unto him, nil these things will I gi% thee, if 
thou wilt fall down and worship me. 

" Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan." 

The slave power, in this latter transaction, per- 
sonates the Devil, and says to the people of Kan- 
sas: "All these things will I give thee, if thou 
wilt fall down and worship me." 

The people of Kansas wilHiiake the same re- 
ply — "Get thee hence, Satan." 

It must be confessed that this proposition is an 
adroit and cunning scheme. If the history of 
the noble men of Kansas did not furnish us an 
ample guarantee of their fidelity and devotion u> 
principle, we inight fear that they would falter in 
this hour of trial and temptation. Thcjr have 
suffered as no people ever suffered in this coun- 
try since the formation of ourGovernment. For 
wishing and honestly striving to make their fu- 



ture home, and the home of their children and 
children's children, a free State, many of them 
have been murdered in cold blood. Their prop- 
erty has been stolen and destroyed; their houses 
burned down; and their wives and children ren- 
dered houseless and homeless, for no other cause. 
Because they have refused to sanction the gross- 
est acts of usurpation and fraud, and abandon 
theirdearestrights as American citizens, the Pres- 
ident of the United States, in imitation of George 
the Third, has stigmatized them as " rebels"and 
"enemies of their country." They have stood 
through all these trials, and many more which no 
pen has written or tongue told, the true and de- 
voted champions of liberty. They have shown 
an attachment to principle only equaled by the 
men of the Revolution. I will not doubt their 
fidelity. They will spurn the bribe, and bury the 
Lecompton constitution sodeepthatneither earth- 
quake nor flood can find it. They will demon- 
.strate to the world that principle and right are 
more valuable than gold ; and that money and pub- 
lic lands have more power in Washington than 
in Kansas. 

This measure is hailed as a compromise, as an 
offering of peace. It is no such thing. It is only 
equaled by the Lecompton constitution itself, in 
its mean, deceptive, and shufiling character. It 
prolongs the controversy, and adds fuel to the fires 
of agitation. Itaddsone more chapter to the his- 
tory of the efforts of the Democratic party to make 
Kansas a slave State. It is only a change of pol- 
icy to attain the same end — the end which the last 
and present Administrations have labored so hard 
to reach — to wit: the enslavement of Kansas. 

The first movement after the passage of the Ne- 
braska bill, was one of violence and invasion from 
an adjoining Slate. The ballot-box was wrested 
from the rightful voters and converted into an en- 
gine of oppression. Under this usurpation the 
territorial government of Kansas started. Cruel 
and unjust laws were enacted by the usurping Le- 
gislature, all having for their object the establish- 
ment of slavery. Ever since then, the struggle 
has been between the people and the usurpers. The 
minority have labored to retain their ill-gotten 
power, and to fasten slavery upon the people. 
The majority have labored to throw off the usurp- 
ation and regain their natural and legal rights. 
The former and present Administrations took 
sides with the usurpers, against the people, and 
upheld them in their work of subjugation. When 
the people refusedassent to the odious laws passed 
by their oppressors, the President quartered large 
bodies of armed men in the Territory, for the pur- 
pose of enforcing these laws and strengthening the 
hands of the invaders. ^ 

When it was ascertained that the people would 
not submit, a plan was devised for driving them 
from the Territory.' Their crops were destroyed; 
their property stolen and burned; their lives were 
threatened, and oftentimes taken. This game fail- 
ing, another was devised. It was known to the 
leaders of the pro-slavery party that a large ma- 
jority of the people were in favor of making Kan- 
sas a free State. It would not do to trust the elec- 
tion of the next Legislature to honest, legal voters. 
They resolved to try ballot-box shiffing and forged 
returns. They thought it would be just as right 
and legal for one man to manufacture five thou- 
sand votes as for five thousand men to come all 



the way from Missouri to vote. It was less trouble 
and much safer. They abandoned the Cincinnati 
platform, and planted themselves on the Cincin- 
nati Directory. They counted upon success; for 
they supposed they had the game all in their own 
hands; but Governor Walker and Secretary Stan- 
ton were too honest men for the managers of this 
diabolical game. They refused to receive a re- 
turn of one thousand six hundred votes from a 
precinct which could not cast one hundred legal 
votes. When these returns were rejected the 
tables turned, and the people, to some extent^ 
regained their rights. For this act of justice and 
right Governor Walker and Secretary Stanton, 
so far as the public know, never received one 
word of approval from the President or his Cab- 
inet. It is evident that there was disapproval at 
the White House. From the hour that it was 
known that the Oxford and McGee returns had 
been rejected. Governor Walker and Secretary 
Stanton were doomed men. The slave power de- 
manded it, and the President dared not refuse. The 
game of making Kansas a slave State was likely 
to be blocked. This could not be tolerated. 

The bogus Lecompton convention next took 
the matter in hand. They attemped, by assum- 
ing legislative powers, to supersede the newly- 
elected Legislature, and to deprive it of all power 
to act. They sought, by their action, to remove 
the government of the Territory, and to set up a 
temporary government of their own, with John 
Calhoun at its head. 

The election had demonstrated that a large ma- 
jority of the people were for making Kansas a 
free State. The Lecompton convention resolved 
to form a pro-slavery constitution, and put it in 
force without the approval of the people, and 
against their will. The game of invasion and 
fraudulent voting and forged returns had not saved 
them , and they now resolved upon the bold game 
of making Kansas a slave State by their own ac- 
tion, and the aid of a Democratic Congress. They 
refused to submit the constitution to the people. 
I know there was a pretended submission of the 
slavery question; but every man of common sense 
knows that the contrivance was such that Kan- 
sas must be a slave State, whichever way the peo- 
ple might vote. The submission was a cheat and 
a swindle. 

It was beyond dispute that there were at least 
twelve thousand free-State voters in Kansas, to 
less than three thousand pro-slavery. If, there- 
fore, Kansas was to be made a slave State, a con- 
stitution must be forced upon the majority against 
their will. The three thousand must in some way 
rule the twelve thousand. This was the game of 
Calhoun and his confederates in Kansas, Mis- 
souri, and the whole South. That has been the 
game in Washington for the first five months of 
this session. There is not a man in this Hall 
who does not know that the Lecompton constitu- 
tion is condemned and repudiated by an over- 
whelming majority of the people of Kansas, and 
that they protest against admission under it. 
Yet, sir, it has been pressed here with a pertinacity 
worthy of the noblest cause. 

The President has bent all his energies to put 
Lecompton through, "naked," and thus trample 
upon the first and dearest rights of the people. 
He has begged and implored. He has shed tears 
of grief over the representatives of the people's 



rights, because they would not do tliis thing. ! 
He lias almost rofused to be comforted; so anx- 
ious is he to do the bidding of the slave power. 
I trust he may live to thank God that his efforts 
failed; and to regret the unmerited abuse he has 
heaped upon the people of Kansas. I hope, 
moreover, that he may live to see this Govern- 
ment brought back to its original policy and 
purity, and Freedom once more entnroned the 
goddess of America. 

Having failed to subdue the heroic people of 
Kansas, by armed invaders at the ballot-box, and 
a standing army in the Territory; and being con- 
vinced that fraudulent votes and forged returns 
will not make Kansas a slave State; and finding 
that the Lecompton contrivance cannot be forced 
through Congress, the game now is, as developed 
by the conference bill, to combine bribery with 
fraud; and, failing in that, to punish the people by 
keeping them out of the Union for years to come. 

The past history of the people of Kansas is a 
glorious one, and I have no doubt the future will 
be even more glorious. 'Kansas will be made a 
free State in spite of usurpation, violence, fraud, 
attempts at bribery, and threats of punishment. 
She will be made a free State by the long-suffer- 
ing, virtue, intelligence, fidelity, and patriotism of 
her people. 

I propose briefly to examine the conference bill, 
and compare it with the House bill, known as the 
Crittenden-Montgomery amendment. The bill, 
which has become a law, does not pretend to sub- 
mit the Lecompton constitution to the people for 
a direct vote upon its merits. It would not do to 
subject that infamous thing to any such test. It is 
hung up to await the acceptance of a jjroposition 
in itself known to be extremely desirable to the 
people; the question virtually submitted being, 
" will you take three million five hundred thou- 
sand acres of land with the Lecompton constitu- 
tion attached, and run your own risk of getting rid 
of the latter, or will you suffer the inconvenience 
and hardship of a territorial government for an 
indefinite period, with no assurance of land gifts, 
when you are able to become a State .'" I admit 
that the law provides an indirect method by which 
the people, by first stultifying themselves, may 
strangle the constitution. The question of land 
grants is submitted, and upon the vote upon that 
question alone, is to depend the immediate admis- 
sion of Kansas. The adoption of the land prop- 
osition is made the condition pi-ecedent. If the 
people vote that down, Lecompton falls with it; 
if they adopt it, Kansas is at once a State in the 
Union, with the Lecompton constitution fastened 
upon them. They are compelled to vote against 
what would be of advantage to them, what they 
desire, in order to get rid of a hateful constitution. 
They must vote against what they want, to wit: 
immediate admission and reasonable land grants; 
to prevent having imposed upon them what they 
do not want, to wit: the Lecompton constitution. 
By this law they cannot come into the Union, ex- 
cept they come in as a slave State. 

In the event that the people vote down the land 
proposition, their action is to be interpreted as 
mdicating a desire on their part to remain out of 
the Union; and they are to continue a Territory 
until they have ninety-three thousand inhabitants; 
or, failing in that before 18G0, one hundred and 
twenty thousand. They are compelled to tell 



two lies in order to get rid of one great lie. They 
must say that they do not desire admission at 
this time, and that they do not want the lands, in 
order to avert the calamity of having the Lecomp- 
ton constitution thrust upon them. 

If the proposition is voted down, as it certainly 
will be, the whole question is left open to agitate 
the country, and to return here at each session 
of Congress, until the State is admitted into the 
Union. This law is no settlement of the ques- 
tion. It only removes it temporarily from Con- 
gress. It will return again to plague the inventors. 
The end of the Kansas agitation is, apparently, 
further off than when this Administration came 
into power. The country will hold those who 
have delayed and prevented a fair settlement of 
this question, toa strictand fearful accountability. 
The bill that passed this House, on the 1st day 
of April last, submitted the Lecompton constitu- 
tion, the thing in dispute, fairly and squarely to the 
untrammeled and unbiased judgment of the peo- 
ple, for their adoption or rejection. No bribes 
were offered for Lecompton; the adoption of no 
land-grant proposition was made a condition of 
admission. The only question presented to the 
people was, whether they would have Lecomp- 
I ton, or some other constitution. They were per- 
; fectly free to vote down Lecompton, and then as 
free to adopt another constitution to suit them- 
selves, and in their own way. By that bill Kan- 
sas was admitted into the Union, absolutely and 
finally. By it she mi£ht at once become a /i-ee 
State. By the law, as it now stands, Kansas can 
only be ti'slave State. Had that bill become a law, 
: the whole controversy about Kansas would have 
' been settled, and forever removed from Congress. 
Agitation upon that question would have ceased 
from that hour. But the party in power refused 
the settlement, fair and honorable as it was, and 
choose rather to open the flood-gales of agitation 
anew, and continue the strife for two or three 
years longer. The country will hold this Admin- 
istration responsible for the faihire to settle this 
question on the basis of that bill. 

Heretofore the friends of this Administration 
have falsely charged that the Republican party 
' were anxious to keep this question open for po- 
litical effect. The Republicans have been an.xious 
for two years to settle this question by admitting 
Kansas into the Union as a free State, knowing 
that a very large majority of the people desired 
such admission. Tiie Democrats have prevented 
that admission; and now that they cannot suc- 
ceed in forcing lier into the Union as a slave Slate, 
against the will of her people, they have determined 
that, if she will not come in that way, she shall 
not come at all. Theirs is the rcsponsibililii of keep- 
ing this question open. 

But it is said the conference bill gives no more 
land than did Crittenden's bill; that they are ex- 
act copies, so far as the land grant is concerned. 
This is true, sir; but the grant now offered is on 
I different conditions and under dilVerent circum- 
! stances. It is now offered on condition that the 
people will come into the Union under the Le- 
compton constitution. If they will not do that, it 
fails. It is made the condition of admission. The 
adoption of the land grant carriis with it, as a 
consequence, the Lecompton constitution. The 
people cannot take the land without at the same 
time taking the constitution. Both are hitched 



6 



together, and both must stand or fall by a single 
vote. 

By the Crittenden bill the two propositions were 
distinct and separate — one could stand and the 
other fall. The people could take either, or nei- 
ther, and still be in the Union. Tliey could ac- 
cept the land grant, and reject Lecompton. Now 
the acceptance of the land grant must necessarily 
and inevitably adopt Lecompton. 

By the Crittenden bill tlie State was admitted; 
and the people were left free to vote down Le- 
compton, and adopt a constitution of their own 
making. The land grant offered no inducement 
in favor of the Lecompton swindle, as it certainly 
does in the law as it now stands. The State was 
to be admitted, whether the people took the land 
or not. If they accepted the grant, it was to be 
binding on the Government of the United States; 
hut it in no wny affected the admission of the State, 
or the constiliUion that it might adopt. 

In the one case, Kansas was to come into the 
Union with such constitution as the people should 
adopt; and they were then, or afterwards, fvee to 
accept the land or not. In the case as it now 
stands, Kansas must come into the Union, if she 
come at all, tv4h the Lecompton constitution. If 
she will not take the land, and with it Lecompton, 
she is denied admission. 

The Crittenden bill is an honest, fair, manly, 
straightforward, and statesman-like measure — 
leaving the question of the constitution to the 
people, where it rightfully belongs. The confer- 
ence scheme is dishonest, unfair, crooked, and un- 
statesmanlike. it is debasing in its tendencies — 
corrupting the public morals. The examples of 
the Government will be followed by the people. 
Fraud and bribery have already become so fre- 
quent in matters connected with elections, as to 
endanger the purity of the ballot-box, and to 
threaten the very existence of our republican sys- 
' tem. Demagogues and scoundrels will pattern 
from this measure, and in future we may expect 
an increase of double dealing, trickery, fraud, and 
bribery. Such legislation is unworthy a great and 
Christian nation. 

It is a sad commentary on the true doctrine of 
popular sovereignly. It seeks to circumvent the 
people, and, by gifts and threats of punishment, 
to induce them to take a constitution which does 
not embody their will, and which receives and 
deserves their execration. 

The friends of the Lecompton constitution dare 
not submit the naked thing to the people. They 
know that four fifths of them are against it, and 
that, if they could only get at it, in that shape, 
they would give it immediate burial. It would also 
demonstrate to the world the wickedness of the 
attemptto force it upon them. They have, there- 
fore, given it a sugar coating, hoping that, for a 
consideration, the people will gulp it down. 

There is one other significant difference be- 
tween these two measures. By the Crittenden bill, 
in order that the election might be fair, four 
commissioners were to have charge of matters con- 
nected therewith, namely, the Governor and Sec- 
retary of the Territory, appointed by the Presi- 
dent, and the President of the Council and the 
Speaker of the House of the Territorial Legisla- 
ture. Two appointed by the President and two 
elected by the people. The people were to have 
an equal chance. But by the bill prepared by the 



conference committee, one more is added to the 
board, to wit, the district attorney; thus giving a 
majority to the friends of the Lecompton consti- 
tution. By the law any three of the board con- 
stitute a quorum, and can act. This is pure 
" popular sovereignty, "as practiced by the Dem- 
ocratic party. This change was made for some 
purpose, and it will be difficult to convince the 
country that it was not done to control the election, 
and give facilities for fraudulent votingand forged 
returns. Kansas has long been fruitful ground 
for the' basest election frauds by the friends of this 
Administration; and it would be strange if seed 
so plentifully sown would not produce another 
crop. To cap the climax the bill should have pro- 
vided that the returns be made to John Calhoun, 
and deposited in his candle-box. 

It is very evident to my mind that the Admin- 
istration will bend all its efforts to carry the elec- 
tion for " proposition accepted." J^o expense 
will be spared to make Kansas a slave State. Every- 
thing that endangers this result, so far as they 
have the power, will be removed. Already has 
District Attorney Weir been removed because he 
would not worship Lecompton, and a man by the 
name of Davis appointed, to aid in the work of 
making a slave State of Kansas. Secret agents 
of the Administration will be sent into the Terri- 
tory to influence the people to vote for Lecomp- 
ton. Of course they will all he free-State men. 
They will tell the long-suffering people of Kan- 
sas that they have only to come into the Union, 
and that they can immediately change Lecomp- 
ton into anything they choose. This will be in 
perfect keeping with the trickery of this law. 

It is well known that the most valuable lands 
in^the Territory are already advertised for sale. 
The times are hard, and the settlers find it impos- 
sible to raise the money to pay for their lands, in 
order to save them from this sale. They have 
asked a postponement of the sale for one year. 
Their reasonable request lias not been granted. 
The sale has been postponed till November, with 
an intimation from the Administration, that there 
will probably be no difficulty in granting a further 
postponement, if Kansas becomes a sovereign State. 
That is, if the people will take Lecompton, the 
Administration of James Buchanan will give them 
longer time to pay for their land. The necessities 
of the poor are to be taken advantage of, in order 
to induce them to do what they abhor. Like the 
exacting money-lender, the men now in power 
promise an ex tension, /or a consideration, namely: 
the acceptance of the Lecompton constitution. 
An Administration that has urged and begged 
Congress to force this spurious constitution upon 
the necks of an unwilling and protesting people, 
will not scruple to use all the means at its com- 
mand, to accomplish the same thing by bribery or 
by a pretended election. 

I have full faith that the people of Kansas, if 
they have anything like a fair chance, will spurn 
the bribe, maintain their integrity, and treat every 
m.an as a traitor who advocates admission on such 
degrading terms. 

Beyond all this, the conference bill enunciates 
a new principle — one that has already attracted 
the attention of the country. The doctrine that 
it requires a greater population for a free State 
than for a slave State, is distinctly implied in this 
measure. I suppose this doctrine is to become a 



now article in the pro-slavoiy Dcmocrnlic creed. ! 
Wiuuher thia new invention is to be labeled 
" State equality," or christened with some other 
popular name, I know not. Call it by what name 
you please — we accept tlie issue ! It is a dr^rad-' 
ing and insulting distinction, and the North will 
resist it. The most ingenious doughface in all the 
free States, cannot invent a reason why Kansas 
should be admitted as a slave State with her pres- 
ent population, and denied admission as a free 
State till her population has doubled. You have 
thrown down the plove on this issue: we shall 
take it up. We will go to the people with this 
issue. Upon our banners we will inscribe: " The 
rights of the people. The immediate admisaion of 
Kansas a? a free Slate. Ab distinctions in /oror of 
slavery.^' If there are not members enough in this 
House two years hence to admit Kansas without 
delay as a free State, I shall be greatly mistaken. 
I think it will be much easier to convince the peo- 
ple of the free North that it is vastly more proper 
to keep the men who voted for this new principle 
of" equality" out of Congress, than that Kansas 
should be denied admission as a free State, with ' 
conditions, that, in the opinion of these gentlemen, 
qualify her for admission as a slave State. 

The political grave-yard received large acces- 
sions when the Nebraska bill passed; and the 
mourners still go about the streets. Again its 
gates will be thrown wide oj5en, and many will 
go in thereat. The race of doughfaces has not 
increased for the past four years, and this meas- 
ure is likely to prove a Noah's flood to the re- 
mainder. Already has this Administration a fear- 
ful account to settle. Its supporters on this floor 
and elsewhere will be punished not only for what 
they have done and attempted to do, in respect 
to Kansas, but they will be arraigned before the 
country for betraying great trusts — for repudiat- 
ing solemn pledges, and for obtaining power un- 
der false pretenses. By the common law, as well 
as by statute, in most of the States, the obtaining 
of goods, money, and other valuable things, by 
false pretenses and false tokens, is declared to be 
an offense, and is severely punished. The fact 
is as notorious as the election itself, that through- 
out the northern States the Democratic party, in 
the campaign of 1856, inscribed upon its banners 
the niotto " Buchanan and free Kansas." The 
.<»inccrity with which they promised to make Kan- 
sas a free State, and the seeming indignation with 
which they repelled the charge of a want of fidel- 
ity in their presidential candidate to this policy, 
defeated the inflexible Fremont, and elected the 
supple Buchanan. But for these reiterated pledges, 
the so-called Democratic party would have been 
defeated in every free State in this Union. Had 
the people of Pennsylvania dreamed, in the fall 
of 185G, that the chief business of the first eight 
months of a Buchanan Administration would be 
wheedlingand dividing the free-State men of Kan- 
sas, and then, by fraud and force, securing the 
apparent adoption of a pro-slavery constitution; 
and that, during five weary months of this Con- 
gress, the whole Federal power and patronage 
would be prostituted to forcing upon that people 
a government which they abhor; and that, failing 
to do this directly, it would try to effect it by a 
dark and devious policy, as deceptive as it is des- 
picable — I say, had the people of the land of Penn 
and Franklin dreamed that such would be the 



' Kansaspolicy of Mr. Buchanan, they would have 
beaten the Democratic ticket in the " Keystone 
State" by thousands upon thousands. 

I repeat, then, that not only will the people of 
I the North scourge this Administration for what 
it has done and attom[)ted to do in respect to Kan- 
sas, but they will compare the record of its actual 
deeds with the pledges it made when asking public 
confidence, and will mete out punishment accord- 
ingly. Human nature always feels more indig- 
nant at being circumvented by trickery and hypoc- 
risy than at being beaten in open, manly conflict. 
Cornwallis, who drove Greene before him in fair, 
manly battle, is a name honored even in America; 
while thai of Arnold, who, by false tokens, ob- 
tained the command of West Point that he might 
betray it to the enemy, is the synonym of false- 
hood and treachery the world over. 

The Republicans, who asserted that Buchanan 
would ply all his arts to make Kansas a slave 
State, and would prove the most ready tool of the 
negro oligarchy that ever occupied the presiden- 
tial chair, have not been deceived. Their predic- 
tions have been verified. Their present hostility 
to his Administration is natural. The assault they 
will make upon it hereafter will only be the war- 
fare of consistent foes. 

But what name shall I give to that summary 
punishment v/hich thou.sands upon thousands of 
betrayed Democrats are eager to inflict upon the 
Administration at the earliest opportunity; men 
who were honest in their pledges of " free Kan- 
sas," who promptly indorsed the promises of 
party leaders in the great contest of 1856, who 
implicitly relied upon the sincerity of their presi- 
dential chief.' Cheated by their leaders, betrayed 
by their chief, taunted by an incensed people, they 
I will deride the man, and repudiate the party that 
has deceived and disgraced them. 

Sore and sure as will be the chastisement that 
this large class will inflict upon the Administra- 
tion, it will be mildness and mercy it.self, when 
compared with the terrible retribution that another 
portion of Mr. Buchanan's supporters have in 
store for him and his retainers. I allude to that 
most respectable body of them called " conserv- 
atives," "old-line Whigs," or " no-party men." 
In the very crisis of the contest, they threw their 
weight into the trembling balance, and awarded 
him the victory. Towards the close of the con- 
flict it assumed such a shape as to give these men 
great influence over the result. Especially was 
this true in the preliminary October election in 
Pennsylvania, the pivot on which the whole can- 
vass finally turned. These gentleman were, no 
doubt, partly influenced to join the standard of 
Buchanan by his vaunted respectability of char- 
acter, his mature age, his great experience in pub- 
lic affairs, his gravity of visage, dress, and de- 
meanor. They could not doubt that so venerable 
a personage mustbeaconservative. Ihavealways 
thought that the white cravat and doctor-of-divin- 
ity like air in general, of the Wheatland sage had 
not a little to do in luring to his support this high 
minded and somewhat aristocratic body of men. 
But the chief motive that influenced them, prob- 
ably, was his express and implied promise, that 
he would deal fairly by Kansas; that he would 
rebuke pro-slavery "fanaticism,"as well as"ab- 
■ olilionism;" that he would set his face against 
"sectionalism;" that he woutd notwinkat "filli- 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



8 




bustering"on the ocean, nor "border-ruffianism" 
on the land. They believed most sincerely that 
should a state of things arise in Kansas such as 
has now involved her affairs in a net-work of 
frauds, perjuries, forgeries, ballot-box stuffing, 
and rascalities of all sorts, Mr. Buchanan was the 
very man to crush such crimes with the weight 
of his authority, and to vindicate the cause of 
justice, honesty, and fair dealing in that Terri- 
tory. 

Thatthese conservative gentlemen, whose votes 
turned the scale in favor of Buchanan, have been 
most woefully deceived in him, is beyond all 
question. That their pride of character has been 
deeply wounded at finding themselves classified 
among the supporters of an Administration that 
protects and honors thieves, forgers, ballot-box 
stufTers, and rogues in general, is very certain. 
That their pride of opinion has been sorely mor- 
tified at being duped by the Pecksniffian morality 
of the author of the Connecticut clerical epistle, 
is most true. Men thus galled in their tenderest 
points will not only embrace the first opportunity 
to dissolve this uncongenial alliance, but will take 
swift vengeance upon those who wheedled them 
into such position. Of all the ingredients of that 
retribution which is soon to be poured out upon 
the pro-slavery Democracy of the North, the most 
bitter, the vfiost destructive will be the hot indig- 
nation of these cheated " conservatives," these 
deluded " old-line Whigs," these betrayed " no- 
party men." 

The gathering in the political heavens is omin- 
ous of the coming storm. The tempest thatswept 
the free States in the autumn of 1854, when the 
people visited their wrath upon the party that had 
just " removed the old landmarks" by obliterat- 
ing the slavery prohibition of the Missouri com- 
promise; and the tornado that careered through 
the North two years afterwards, prostrating so 
many aspiring men, and, though not wholly suc- 
cessful in its objects, yet most salutary even in its 
partial effects, and full of hope for the future, will 
prove to be but gentle gales when compared with 
that retributive hurricane which, in the approach- 
ing autumn, will scathe the Lecompton Democ- 
racy as with the besom of destruction. 

Are we mistaken in the signs of the times.'' 
Turning the eye towards the setting sun, can we 
doubt that the j^oung State lying beyond the 
Sierra Nevada will sustain her able representa- 
tives in the Senate and in this House in their op- 
position to the Lecomptor. fraud? As to the five 
growing States of the Northwest, which were 
saved to perpetual liberty by the immortal ordi- 
nance of 1787; and the State, not less prosperous, 
which was consecrated to freedom forever by the 
Missouri compromise; and the vigorous new 
State just admitted to the Union, will they not 
all vindicate the cause of free labor by sending a 
delegation to the next Congress that will be a 
unit on questions like those which have divided 
men and rent parties during the present ses- 
sion .' 
As to Pennsylvania, her favorite son has as- 



cended topower. ; 016 085 206 9 , 

He has soured her spirii. xm, vu. .. ... ^.. 

The spell is broken. She will break her chains 
and stand forth redeemed, emancipated, and dis- 
enthralled. Lethim whodoubts this, ponder the 
result of the recent election in Philadelphia, and 
be assured that what has been done in May on 
the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill, will in 
October be repeated on the banks of the Susque- 
hanna, the Juniata, the Monongahela, the Alle- 
ghany, and the Ohio. As New Jersey suffered 
with Pennsylvania in the struggle, and shared 
with her in the triumph of the Revolution , so, too, 
has she generally followed the lead of that great 
State in all political changes; and so will she now. 
It would also be belying the whole history of New 
York, a State that gave to the war of Independence 
the sword of a Schuyler and a Hamilton — that 
gave to the constitutional era the pen of a Jay 
and a Livingston — and that has given to the coun- 
sels of the Republic and the cause of freedom the 
services of a King, a Clinton, a Tompkins, and a 
Wright, to question that in a crisis like this she 
will cast her " Empire" weight into the scale of 
liberty. 

I hardly need speak for New England ; for since 
this Congress has been in session she has begun 
to speak for herself. The emphatic voice of New 
Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, re- 
cently uttered agafnst this Lecompton crime, will 
in due time be reiterated by Vermont, Maine, and 
Massachusetts. Those who now misrepresent 
the sentiment of New England in these Halls will 
soon have leave of absence. They will not ap- 
pear here at the next Congress, nor will anybody 
of like faith succeed to their seats. ♦' The places 
which now know them will know them no more 
forever." No human being outside of a nursery 
or a lunatic asylum doubts that, in the next Con- 
gress, glorious New England will present an un- 
broken front in the cause of freedom. 

Speaking for my own State, I can certify to her 
fidelity. When her own son, sitting in the pres- 
idential chair, forced upon the country the Kan- 
sas-Nebraska act, she turned her back scornfully 
upon him, and set her feet indignantly upon his 
Administration. But so much more does she de- 
test the policy of James Buchanan, that in com- 
parison therewith she is beginning to look upon 
that of Franklin Pierce with a feeling akin to com- 
placency. I know the people of New Hampshire 
well. Her White Mountains are not more firmly 
rooted to the earth than her sons are grounded in 
the cause of civil and religious freedom. In that 
most solemn and eventful hour of the Republic, 
on that memorable 4th of July, 1776, her Repre- 
sentatives in Congress were the first to vote for 
the Declaration of Independence; and her people 
will be the last to abandon the principles of that 
immortal charter of human rights. Whoever else 
falters in the hour of trial, they will be found 
faithful. Whenever the trumpet calls to battle, 
they will rally to the standard; and 

" From their tall moiititains to the sea, 
One voice shall thunder, We are free!" 



